


Flickering Firelight

by xtremeroswellian



Category: Lost
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e12 Fire + Water, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-09 22:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17413610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Just a short ficlet illustrating the friendship of Kate and Charlie.





	Flickering Firelight

She watched him as he sat alone on the beach, beside a flickering fire, hood pulled up over his head as he stared out at the ocean. Even though he was faced the other direction, she had a feeling he was staring across the distance with a blank expression. She’d done the exact thing enough times to recognize the position--shoulders hunched, knees pulled to the chest, isolated from everyone else.

With a soft sigh, she slowly headed toward him, not looking around to gauge the reactions of the other people she’d come to know, at least somewhat, since the plane crash nearly three months ago. She knew well the feeling of being ostracized, and she didn’t wish that on anyone.

He didn’t look up as she sat down beside him on the soft sand. Not looking at him, she simply moved to mirror his position. Not because she was imitating him, but because the position was comforting in some way. She stared out across the ocean, watching the tide sweep onto the beach, the moonlight reflecting on the waves.

“I didn’t use.”

She kept her gaze straight ahead. “I believe you.”

Blinking, he turned his head to look at her. “You do?” There was doubt in his voice.

Kate nodded just slightly. “I do.” She was silent for a moment. “They’ll get over it, Charlie.”

“I screwed up pretty bad.” His voice was quiet and he looked out at the ocean again.

“We all screw up,” she murmured, holding a hand toward the fire as if the simple act would make her feel warmer.

“I wasn’t always like this, you know. I mean, I wasn’t always…” He ran a hand over his face. “I think this island…I think it does something to our minds.”

“How can it not?”

Charlie looked at her but didn’t say anything.

“Come on, right after the crash some kind of monster ate the pilot.” Kate glanced at him sideways. “And there are other people on this island that want to kill us or…whatever, I don’t know. People we knew…have died, and…” She closed her eyes. “Almost died.”

He gazed at her for a moment. “Do you think we’ll ever get off this island?”

Kate bit her lip. “Honestly? I don’t know,” she admitted very softly.

“That French woman…Danielle…she’s been here for over a decade and…no one’s come for her.” Charlie let out a breath. “I think we’re stuck here.”

“At least we’re stuck together.” She reached out and laid a hand on his arm, giving it a very gentle squeeze.

“They’ll probably be upset with you for talking to me.”

A faint smile touched her lips. “Good thing I don’t really care what they think.”

“Sure you do.” His voice was quiet. “Like you said, we’re stuck here together.”

That gave her a moment’s pause. “They’ll get over it,” she echoed her words from before. “They always do.” She gave his arm another gentle squeeze, then wrapped her arms around her knees once more.

Charlie sighed very softly. “Do you think she will?”

“Claire?” When he nodded, Kate rested her chin on her knees. “She had Eko baptize Aaron,” she told him softly.

He looked at her with widened eyes.

“Even though you went about it the wrong way…she knows you did it for the right reasons,” she murmured. “She’ll come around. Just give her some space.”

“Right then.” Charlie sighed once more.

Kate, too, let out a breath and her gaze drifted to the ocean once more, as they sat in companionable silence, accompanied by the darkness, and the flickering firelight.


End file.
